Madness
by Benjamin .M. White
Summary: The Toa's eyes switched from the icy of the madly determined to the glowing orange of the mad with rage. With a feral roar, serrated blades slid out of his gauntlets and were charged with electricity. This Toa was truly insane.
1. Prolouge: Mountain Ghost

**Prologue: Mountain Ghost**

It was a dark night. But not stormy.

A silver-skinned matoran snuck through the alleyways of Rivstak-Nui. Not just 50 years ago, this was made as an island for two reasons. One was to have a place to send criminals to and for matoran to test their prowess of survival in the harsh land and to emerge stronger for the more-frequent-than-ever Rahkshi. The volcanic island was a place for the strong, the foolhardy, and the dark. This being was part of the last.

In his pack was something of amazing craft. One of the best he had made. Supposedly, it could let you see one strand of the future. But just one possible outcome. He had tried it out, and he knew firsthand it's capability. It told him that the delivery would be accomplished perfectly. The Order of Mata Nui left him a message that they needed a special order from them.

He grinned inwardly. He couldn't help but feel proud since he was the one that discovered the Order's existence. It was especially odd since both organizations, them and the Nyrah Ghosts, communicated in anonymous notes. In a certain hollow of a strange iron mountain, there had been some notes left for a special order. This had to be as knowledgeable as the Ghosts to know they used this island for mining to find the tablet.

That invisibility device worked to perfection. There were guards every 100 yards, and they didn't even look his way! _I am truly a master matoran_, he thought to himself.

After getting through the small town of Ta-Matoran, he came to the den where the last note was. He set the mask along with another tablet, and collected the widget fee the Order operatives left. His business was done. He took out a small metal-shaping tool, and pulled the iron over the supplies. It was now seamless.

But when he turned around, there stood a Vorixx. She was tall and thin, with red plating dotting the normal black color scheme. "There you are, my little friend..." she said in a snakelike voice. "I've been watching you. That device-it's nothing compared to what Brotherhood scientists can make. Hand it over."

The Brotherhood! Those blasted fools were trying to enslave them! "NO!" The yell brought a notice from the guards. The vortixx hissed angrily at the attention. "Give it, now. Unless you want to be our next experiment on matoran-rahi hybrids." What sprang from her finger was a long, sickle-shaped claw, the perfect assassin's blade.

The matoran cowered. Guards started to tentatively move out of the city walls, searching for the earlier yell. The operative looked over her shoulder, checking their distance. "Now."

Her hand raised. Still nothing.

Higher still. And still nothing.

Then a blast of lighting struck the ground. It was huge, and made a 5-foot crater in to the floor. Everyone turned to stare, guards included. In the remaining rubble crouched an electric-blue Toa. Strange tubes and breathing devices ran over his mask and back. Deep, dark breathing echoed across the land.

"Brotherhood scum, let him go."

The Toa had cold, icy eyes. They were eyes of the madly determined. The deep breathing continued.

The vortixx was stunned by the entrance. "Who are you?" was all she sputtered out.

"You might know me by the term "Mountain Ghost." Haven't you heard my legend?" asked the Toa in a strange, raspy voice.

She had. The mysterious person was said to be a guardian on the island, watching all. Those who abandoned their own and came for selfish reasons were punished. Those who worked together and helped one another to stay alive were saved. All of it had an electric-blue being, lighting, and the dark breathing.

The Brotherhood operative regained her composure. _This is all some fancy flare. I can take him easy. Who am I to be scared by a simple Toa? _"All you have been doing is fighting volcanoes and pesky matoran. You have never fought someone of my skill." The blade, still in the air, turned to him. 9 more joined it.

A fiendish thought entered the mind of the shadow agent. _Just wait_...

On the Toa's gauntlets, energy began to flow over them. _Wait... _

The Toa poised to jump. _Wait..._

The Xian made her move. As the Toa lept at her, she rolled to the side. The matoran were just 50 feet away now. In range. As part of one flowing movement, she spun and grabbed a whip out of her pocket. Shadows rolled off it. Just as the first twist finished, she flicked her wrist and whipped a matoran with it. Instantly, his heartlight stopped.

"Hold, Mountain Ghost, or more shall join him!" She expected a traditional reaction, where the Toa stop to save the worthless lives of the matoran. This was purely the opposite.

The Toa's eyes switched from the icy of the madly determined to the glowing orange of the mad with rage. With a feral roar, serrated blades slid out of his gauntlets and were charged with electricity. This Toa was truly insane.

With arms outstretched, the crazed Toa boiled into his opponent, crossing 50 feet in simply 3 seconds. Leaving the ground, he jumped and slammed right into the Voritxx's midsection, and tackling her to the ground.

With a vicious yell, he brought his blades down to her neck. Tossing aside her whip, she parried with her own . Locked in an epic duel, the two tumbled over and over, slashing and slashing. The Xian had cold, calculating skill and accuracy. The Toa had rage and strength. And more, he had a reason to fight-saving lives.

In one great stroke, he knocked aside the Brotherhood employee's blades. They left her fingertips, and skittered across the rocky landscape.

With a final yell, he plunged his blades into the torso of the Brotherhood agent. With a bloodcurdling scream, her heartlight went out. The orange light from the Ghost's eyes faded into their normal blue.

He was panting heavily, and looking over the body of his opponent. Only audible to himself, he mumbled "Have I done the right thing? Another rage, I need help..."

He now acknowledged the matoran. "Go home, and bury the one who was killed. Know, the Mountain Ghost is not without weakness." With that, he walked away, leaving terrified matoran in his wake.

The Mountain Ghost found the Nyrahn hidden behind a boulder. He crouched down, and prepared to talk. Despite the invisibility, he knew the craftsman was there.

The Nyrah Ghost was still frozen with fright. The only sound was the Mountain Ghost's heavy breathing."Do you remember me?" He asked simply.

Then it clicked in the matoran's head. Gyra! His old apprentice, killed in that lab accident! But was he? How could he be alive? And how could that klutzy assistant become a _Toa,_ of all things? Especially one of lightning.

"Gyra.... What has happened?" The Toa stared with his icy eyes.

"My name is Buin now. I am still alive. You shall know soon enough the answers to your questions." With that, the Mountain Ghost ran off into the mountains.

_ Buin? Why would that bouncing-off-the-walls energetic assistant name himself _lost? Mulling it over, the Nyrahn trudged back to his camp, still invisible to the guards. In the distance, another eruption blasted into the sky.

_ How did she find me? The Brotherhood has always pestered us, but this... How did they know about the delivery? I need to find Gyra- no, Buin._

The beginning of the end had started. The saga of Buin The Lost had now begun.....


	2. Chapter 1: Mind of the Mountain Ghost

**Chapter 1: Mind of the Mountain Ghost**

Deep breathing.

He was finally getting used to it. Back after the lab explosion six months ago, an old Turaga had managed to scrounge together the materials to make life support tubes and a pack to keep him alive.

Of course, he upgraded it as soon as it could. A strong wind could of easily torn the prototype apart. But the one byproduct he couldn't get rid of was his heavy breathing. The explosion had tore open his back, and his lungs were badly damaged. With some help from that mysterious Turaga, he rebuilt his mechanical parts to sustain his now-weakened lungs.

Climbing the blackened mountain, the sun cast a blood-red glow on the peaks. Dawn had come. In the top of the spire was his home, a modest hut with everything he needed to live. A bed, chair, and small forge. In a basket was today's meal. Several roots he collected from the shoreline 2 or 3 days ago were to be cooked into a stew.

He was lucky that there was a secret aquifer under the peak. A simple pump brought up water for his various purposes. It was branded with the insignia of the Nynrah Ghosts - a hammer and anvil. They were the ones who invented them, after all.

He shook his head. Still, he had flashbacks to his days as a lab assistant. He wasn't sure yet, but a flash from the explosion might of meddled with his memory. At least weekly, he would pass out and relive his matoran days. That was one reason he came to Rivstak-Nui; to overcome his madness.

He sat down in his chair, to rest and meditate. He devoted himself to one hour every day, to hone his mind and his morals. He had been left for dead after the explosion, and had left him quite shaken. His own close friends and teachers on the island left him, and this left him rather ethics bent. The old Turaga helped him straiten his head, but the job wasn't finished. He still kept his meditation on the code. All that had passed added up to what he was now- a Toa.

_ What happened today was dangerous. Those rages are more and more frequent now. Should I have killed her? She already knew too much... I guess I should of. But not in cold blood. I need to focus myself. And I need help. Ever since the Turaga died, those attacks are climbing in commonness._

And then it happened.

Buin screamed as his mind swirled around him, past and present converging into one. His body went into spasms. Suddenly, the mad Toa was floating in the air above his home, mask power out of control. He barely noticed he stopped screaming, since he couldn't make any noise in this form. His body lay motionless in the hut, heartlight giving odd flutters.

Finally, his mind settled. But not in the same order.....

***

"That's Essence of Iron! I need Protosteel, Gyra! I need Protosteel Essence!" A silvery-black matoran barked orders and beat furiously on two circles of the same metal of the desired essence. Tongues of flame licked his arms in the hot furnace, but it was all ignored. He had long ago made his arms flame-proof to better survive the fires of the forge. The furnace looked like an old stove. But it was far more advanced than any simple cast-iron stove.

A matoran of much purer silver-color frantically ran to grab a separate vial. He set the old one down on the rack, and sprinted back over to the forge. "I have the essence, Master Feorner (fee-or-ner)!" Without taking his eyes off his craft, he grabbed the vial and poured the gas-liquid substance on his hammer. It began emitting a metallic-colored glow.

He gazed over it for a moment, inspecting his tool. In one jerk, he spun and slammed it into the left ring on the rack in the furnace. When the hammer moved back there was a dent in the metal. Gyra couldn't help but gasp. He had never seen protosteel, the invincible metal, dented.

On four sides, identical dents were made. It was repeated on the opposite cylinder of metal "Gyra, get these out of the furnace!" the Foreman yelled at his assistant, frantically setting buttons on a control pad.

"Yessir!" On the side of the furnace, a green button bulged out. Gyra tapped it, and the protosteel rack with the rings jutted itself out from the enclosed furnace. "Take those back to the cooling rack!"

With special gloves, he grabbed the rack and ran to an identical object, except it was very cool. But as he dashed over to the opposite instrument, a stray wrench got in his way. He shouted as he clicked over it, and fell mask-first onto the floor. The red-hot cylinders spun across the floor, and collided with the Elemental Essences cabinet, Lightning section.

"Gyra, what the Karzahni just happened!" Foreman Feorner barked out the question, worried. He turned around and saw the would-be gauntlets melting through the iron cabinets. Gyra scrambled up from the floor. "Master, there was a stray wrench! I tripped and the gauntlet outer rings flew across-"

"Just get them away!" The metalworker kept yelling. But it was too late. They had already melted through the cabinet door. The Lightning Essence inside was getting hot fast. "GET OUT NOW!"

Both matoran ran beyond their physical limits, knowing very well what could happen if the Essences were heated and they were near. But Gyra wasn't fast enough. A huge blast blew apart the cabinet.

A jet of pure, concentrated lightning elemental energy impaled Gyra in his back, shooting strait through him. "MASTER - HELP MEEEE!" Gyra's shout turned into a scream as he felt his body reconfiguring, growing, and being charged with power. He barely registered that he collapsed on the floor.

"HHHEEELLLPPP!" Feorner kept running without a backward glance. Gyra tried to crawl after him, but he was too weak. "Mast..." After a great, blinding flash of light, the Fe-Matoran felt his mind being torn apart. Gyra knew no more.

***

Bleary vision slowly formed around the Nyrahn's eyes. He saw a thatched roof, made of stuff that Rahi would eat. But where was he? And the bed felt strangely small... And what was that deep breathing that echoed in the hut?

"Your awake! I was starting to worry that the breathing devices I made for you weren't enough." Gyra couldn't recognize the voice. But it was oddly familiar to him. Where had he heard that?

Gyra turned around to get out of the bed he was on. A silver Turaga with a belt of small knives sat beside him. But his legs were strangely long. He tried to stand up, but wobbled and collapsed back on the bed. "Take it slowly, young one. That explosion was terrible. You're lucky to live."

Gyra gazed down on himself. He was blue now, not his normal silver. And he was big. Really big, almost twice his height before. The Turaga tried to support him, but it was a difficult task taking in to account Gyra's new size.

"I found you, almost dead, after that explosion young Gyra. Your breathing is because of the tubes and devices I built into your back. That lightning energy did terrible things to your lungs."

Then Gyra realized- that breathing was his. He hobbled over to the Turaga's wash bin, and saw his reflection. Strange tubes ran across his now electric blue face. He yelled, releasing all the pain he had felt from the blast, light flash, chemicals- everything. It had a strange rasp.

In the Turaga's eyes was great sympathy. Gyra sat down in the Turaga's only chair, shaking. "Calm down, child. This will all be fine. You are a **Toa**, the greatest of all heroes! You are the next of a proud legacy, one of the few. Be happy! A Toa's life is hard, but very rewarding. We live in troubled times. Now, it is for you to take up the mantle. "

"I... I... I... was... abandoned. THEY LEFT ME!!!" The rasp was even worse now. Gyra's head spun even faster. His own people, friends, and master leaving him... It was hard to focus on what the Turaga was talking about.

The sympathy flooded the Turaga's silver eyes anew. "The Ghosts are in no way perfect. W- They did good, and they have done bad. I'm not sure whether to call them good or evil. Mostly, they are neither."

"The explosion... What happened? The last thing I remember is Feorner running out the door..."

"I found you about 6 hours after the blast. I would of came earlier, but I had to wait until after everyone had cleared away. You were half-dead, and buried under about 5 feet of rubble." There was silence only broken by Gyra's rasp. After long thinking, the new Toa thought of a question.

"How did you know my name?"

In the Turaga's wise eyes, he slowly thought of an answer. "Long ago, I was a Nynrah Ghost. Long before you were born. 3,000 years. I tried the greatest craft of them all, something even the great Artahkah never did successfully- I was trying to create life. But it banished me."

A strange wonder and dedication came into the Turaga's eyes. He started in a soft, gentle voice:

"They said that it only Mata Nui should create life. But I knew I could do it, I knew that I did a just action. But they forced me away. Soon I became a Toa, and now a Turaga. We live on a small, unexplored jungle island. I have but two regrets - once, I came so close to making life. But I failed. I think the matoran I almost made had a bit of conscience, and I killed it. It was too be the ultimate life, one that could do anything, one that could stop darkness forever... It went terrible." The Turaga closed his eyes, reflecting on his memories. His breathing unsteadied.

"The other, I left someone very dear to me on the island. I thought I would never see him again..." But there was an odd note in the Turaga's voice; he sounded almost a little... happy.

"You're hiding something, I can tell that much." The rasp started to stop. The Turaga chuckled.

"There's no point in denying, yes I am. But it only for your own good, I assure you. And about how I know your name - I've been monitoring you for some time. I detected greatness in you. And greatness you have become." The Turaga's voice had pride in it. Gyra still wondered why he acted like that. He was an odd one.

"What is your name?"

"For now, call me by my old alias I used in my Toa days- call me Mountain Ghost."

***

For the next week, Gyra trained, developing his skills. He discovered that when he mediated, he wasn't Gyra anymore. The lab flash, chemicals, and his abandonment did things to his mind. The old Gyra didn't exist.

"They left me for dead." Anger tinted Gyra's voice. "You said that no one came for me. They left me there! In 6 hours, they could've easily sent help if they wanted!" The first ever male Toa of Lightning rasped on in his new voice. It always got worse when he was in physical labor or emotional stress.

His eyes began to glow. A hint of orange was in them. This was one of several curses of his mental ailments. Electricity began to crackle at his fingertips. Mountain Ghost stood to the side during Gyra's tirade. With a great swoop of his fist, Gyra smashed a nearby rock in two with a flash. What was supposed to be a nature survival course turned into something else.

Mountain Ghost waited for it to be over. It was not the first time this had happened, nor would it be the last. He knew that his is not the true Gyra, and would be corrected once he's done. His madness was just a disease of sorts.

After about 30 more seconds of romping, rasping, cursing, and lightning, the glow finally faded. It looked like the Toa had just been through an adrenaline rush. Panting, he slumped on one half of the rock he had split.

Gyra had another question. "Who am I?" he asked.

Mountain Ghost worried. _Has he discovered? No... he couldn't have... _"In what form, young one?" he asked in his soft voice.

"Gyra was that lab assistant who died after the explosion. I'm someone else now. The name Gyra isn't me. What is my name?"

_ Arkata... That is your name..._ the Fe-Turaga thought. _But you shouldn't know yet. For now, you must be someone else._ "You are who you decide yourself to be. The Nynrahns always named themselves after virtues. You are no longer _energetic and eager_. What decides your actions?" Mountain Ghost knew he had to decide for himself.

"Then I am... I am _lost_. I am _Buin._"

***

Mountain Ghost wondered whether calling the new Toa _Buin_ was unhealthy. But the newly-christened Buin stuck to his name. To him it was a goal, a foe, and something to overcome and work to. Sometimes, it depressed him in some states where his madness struck in. In other times, it was motivation. The latter was most common.

The days stretched into weeks, and the weeks into months. Time went on. When Buin's mind was clear, he was wiser with every week. In times of madness, he became more crazed with every day.

His daily training took up most of his time. Each day, Buin would begin each morning at dawn and go find enough food in the surrounding forest to last him 3 meals. Afterwards, he would have to avoid traps and pitfalls Mountain Ghost had set the previous night. None were lethal, but many were painful. The first few times, Buin couldn't make it through without being wacked into the air by tree branches or stepping on a smoke bomb. Mountain Ghost still had his old forging skill, and could make about anything out in the wilderness since there was a mine a few miles away.

Afterwards, Buin would practice using his elemental powers and mask power. The Turaga knew little of a lightning Toa's training, but did his best to help. The first exercise was to make static jump from fingertip to fingertip, his hands slightly apart.

"Start small, young one. Lightning, as with any element, can be very dangerous if you cannot control it. This will teach you pinpoint precision with your lightning power."

It went from sparks to streaks, streaks, to blasts, and blasts to greater explosions. Before long, the Lightning Toa showed a natural aptitude for his element.

His mask came soon. It was a Kanohi Iden, mask of Spirit. It was very rare. Buin soon used it on a regular basis to get away from the world and relax. Despite questioning Ghost's mask, he refused to reveal it. "This power is too great to be trifled with. Only in great emergencies, I use it."

After a few weeks, it was time for Buin to choose his tool. In a case, Mountain Ghost had presented an impressive variety of weapons. "Choose wisely, Buin. Your tool is an ally that must never fail you. When you take one, you trust it with your life," the Turaga advised.

Overlooking the case, Buin examined a longsword, mace, scythe, glaive, and things he couldn't identify. After minutes of considering, he chose, "That... what is it called? It looks like a glaive, but has blades on both sides and on the bottom end. It looks effective, but I've never seen it before."

"It is my own invention. I don't have a name for it. You pick one. It is your weapon."

"I will name it... _Caladbolg, _ancient Nynrahn for _heroism._" But he turned his eyes back to the rack of weapons. "But I would like to have a backup weapon." From it, he grabbed a belt of knives.

"But I won't use it in the normal way." He grabbed a single blade from the case and a string of wire the Turaga had been using to tie up some loose tablets. Placing the blade handle on top of his index finger on the right hand, he bound the two together with the wire.

Mountain Ghost smiled. "Just as I did once, Buin."

***

Not just did Buin choose _Caladbolg _and the claws, but he forged a set of gauntlets. It was the same plan that he failed on, and blew apart his back. It was more than just another craft, it was redemption for his fail. He made it at perfection, and was always making new gadgets to install inside the casing.

This physical combat training took up the most hours every week. "Normally, combat was much smaller in a Toa's training. But we live in desperate times. Makuta's servants are at every corner. You must learn how to survive. But always live by our code; without it, we shall become no better than the Master of Shadows himself. Only fight for the defense of yourself or innocents."

Over time, not only did Buin master _Caladbolg_ and his claws, but also became competent with the sword and glaive, as well as being able to properly use many others. He favored _Caladbolg,_ but always used is claws whenever in a great rage. Also, he expected the breathing apparatus to be a great hindrance. But after many hours of developing it, he compacted it to the point where it almost merged with his body and very thin for such a device.

Time went on. But on the subject of madness, he didn't pass 3 days without a flashback, mood swing, or rage. Every time, they became longer to further extremes. Every day, Buin meditated, trying to focus his mind and clear the harm. But he couldn't every day, it grew. In a couple of years, he could become a raving lunatic if he didn't get treatment.

"I see two problems that damaged your sanity," Mountain Ghost said. "There must be heavy chemical damage to your mind. You must find an amazing doctor to cure this. Or, make amends with the Nyrahns. But soon, you must leave. For your own good."

Buin thought. This was part of his mediation hour for the day. "Will you be able to come with me?" He had became very close to Mountain Ghost over the 6 months on the strange island.

"No, child. I cannot."

***

The following morning was the start of one week Buin had to live on his own out in the island's jungle. Collecting breakfast, he wondered just where he was. Mountain Ghost had never disclosed the location. In the sea he had come to on another camping session, the liquid was not liquid protodermis. It was something else that looked much like it, but tasted different.

Strolling around, looking for wild herbs or edible roots, he heard an odd noise in the distance. It was probably the local wildlife (who looked stranger than the protodermis tasted), but sounded... different. He think that Ghost had showed him the sound before in a training exercise. And it was...

A blast of heat struck the tree that was inches from his head. A yellow reptilian creature broke it's concealment in the vines.

"Blast!" he cursed. _Why didn't I remember Rahkshi!? _With a quick flick of his wrist, the blades from the knife set slid out from his gauntlets and hooked into ruts strapped to his fingers. He turned to the burnt tree behind him, jammed his left hand into the bark, and pushed himself into the air. Releasing the blades at the same moment Buin flipped around to face the Rahkshi, he shot a bulls-eye strip of lightning straight through the heat-vision beast's midsection. The electricity instantly short-circuited the suit, and shut the Kraata inside into a coma.

It wasn't the only one. At least a dozen more could be heard clomping through the vines of the jungle. Buin began climbing the tree with a grappling hook from his gauntlets, fast. At the top of the tree, he saw not only the 15 nearby, more were coming from the North. There were a hundred at least. "Not good." Panic began to seep into his mind.

He needed to warn Mountain Ghost, now! As fast as his feet could allow it, he ran to the old hut.

***

Mountain Ghost hummed a tune as he was forging a new project. He wasn't sure quite what it would be yet. But he let his instincts guide him, and it would become a work of art. The hammer clanged rhythmically as it began to make what was apparently a giant robotic being with a face what looked like a matoran without a mask.

Buin slid and stumbled across the entrance to the hut. "Master! Rahkshi- Coming!- Hundreds!" the blue Toa sputtered out his words in between ragged breaths and terrrible rasps. For the first time, an emotion Buin hadn't seen flashed through Ghost's eyes- fear.

"Pack your things. We leave now."

The two frantically scrambled to get supplies. All the food, enough to last them a week (Mountain Ghost had packed emergency food before), defensive tools, and supplies for them to start a new life.

"I have a secret boat out to the east. From the distance you traveled, the Rahkshi will be here in only half an hour. We must run! Run! This is our only way for us to live!"

At speeds only capable by those who had their life on the line, Buin and Mountain Ghost ran, ran, ran. But the Toa's longer legs made him leave the Turaga behind. Buin tried to suggest slowing, but Ghost would never allow it.

"You must go! Go! Don't worry about me!"

"NO! I WON'T LEAVE YOU !" With that, Buin picked him up and put him on his back, heart racing and breath rasping. Despite Mountain Ghost's requests, from Buin back, didn't hear them. He kept running. Running, running, running for his life.

The yell had a bad side affect. In the air, several Rahkshi could be seen flying. About 20 turned their way. "BUIN! GO!" But the Toa did not heed. Stopping, he popped out a targeting device from his right gauntlet. It gave three bleeps to show that it had locked onto the Rahkshi. Focusing his power, Buin shot it out of the sky in a single blast.

Spiraling down, luck favored him. It crashed into another in tight formation, which sparked a chain reaction. Soon, five hit the ground in a fiery explosion. "That blast should of started a fire. That should occupy those on the ground," Buin stated.

The duo kept going, the Toa occasionally stopping to fire a blast. But the Rahkshi quickly gained ground. "We need to stop here and face them! There's no way we can keep like this!" Buin yelled. He skidded to a stop from the breakneck run, Mountain Ghost still piggybacking.

The Rahkshi, now exactly a dozen in number, landed. Slowly, they approached the two, cautious of a surprise factor. Buin drew _Caladbolg_ from his back, and Ghost had his two best melee knives from the set in his hands.

The battle begun.

Rahkshi charged first. Two sonic ones were the first in line, and first to fall. As trained frontline soldiers, they marched forward, simultaneously swinging sonic waves. In rehearsed lines, arcs and waves of sonic energy at the two, making a grid. Normally, it was impossible to slip through.

Normally. To a master warrior and legendary craftsman - it could be bypassed.

"BUIN! CHARGE! BUT DON'T FIRE!" Trusting his master to the fullest inch, Buin dived headlong at would be death. Finally, Ghost's mask began to glow. Every time Buin had asked about the mask, the old Turaga refused to tell him it. Now, it was revealed. It was not the only thing that Ghost planned to reveal that day.

A vortex appeared inches in front of Buin's head. Absorbing the sonic blow, a gap big enough for his size opened. Completing the dive, he rolled out and struck both Rahkshi in half with two swift blows. The legs and torso sets clattered to the ground, still flopping about with hissing Kratta. Oil spilled out onto the ground, staining it.

The Rahkshi, not planning for their barrier to fail, were taken by surprise in the onslaught of blades. In a deadly dance of steel, master and apprentice slipped, sliced, and electrified their way through a dozen Rahkshi. Swinging around in a mad maneuver, Buin cleaved through Rahkshi staffs, backs, and necks. Parts and bits of metal flipped into the air as he swung his special weapon.

Mountain Ghost was proving his worth as a warrior. His knives, short swords for a Turaga, guarded Buin from the year. Despite being normally slow and stiff, years of experience and practice led him as he blocked and parried Rahkshi blows. Occasionally, he had to use his Olmak - that's what it was, a Mask of Dimensional Gates. He never brought it up, due to the power of travelling throughout worlds would be sought by many, and the Brotherhood could track it's power being released. Through his barrier of blades, not one thing touched his apprentice from the back.

Finally, the last beheaded Rahkshi flopped to the ground. The Kraata still hissed angrily inside it. Buin dispatched it with one quick sweep of _Caladbolg_. The following minute was just panting and rasping, by both people. Ghost spoke first.

"Buin, we must go if we want to live. The other Rahkshi cannot be far behind."

Buin just nodded, saving his breath. He trudged on, still carrying his master, through the jungles of the island. The fastest he could muster was a simple trot. If we went any faster, the Toa would collapse. Then the Rahkshi would find them...

Out of his pack, Ghost withdrew a water skin of strange liquid. He uncapped it, and handed it to Buin. "Drink," he said. "This is a special cordial I made myself. It restores your energy, for some time."

He drank two gulps, no more. "Conserve it," Ghost warned. "There isn't much."

Buin passed back the container. Already, he felt energy flow back into him like a river, starting in his head, reaching to his chest, limbs, and tips of his fingers. In a few seconds, Buin was back running full speed.

"What is that?" Buin asked, still focusing on maneuvering through the jungle undergrowth.

"I haven't got a name for it, but it's a byproduct of-" Ghost stopped talking when he saw a weird look on Buin's face. "Not that kind. Well, if you use Energized Protodermis for fuel, this comes off. It's fully safe." Buin kept running. The two made a silent agreement to save their breath.

Finally, Buin burst through the last line of trees and emerged on the beach. "The boat should be..." but Mountain Ghost did not finish. On the shoreline was easily one hundred Rahkshi.

Buin skidded to a halt, sand flying from his feet. His eyes scanned the huge mass. Suddenly, a ripple of movement came through. The Rahkshi parted, and a black Toa came walking through. He carried a wickedly sharp lance, and shadows rolled off him like a black fire. The strangest thing was the red cloth tied around his eyes.

"I have found you at last old man..." he greeted in a sly, charismatic tone. Yet it chilled all who heard it to the core. "Don't you remember me? That _failure_? And I see... yes, you have found my brother." The figure gestured to Buin.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!" Buin yelled and rasped, now worse than ever before. The yell was louder than it should be with his battle instincts coursing through him.

"What? He does not know?" asked the Shadow Toa. Even with the bandana, you could tell he looked confused.

"He will know by the day's end," promised Mountain Ghost. "But how are you still alive?"

"The Brotherhood found me. They healed me, rebuilt me, and did what you couldn't." Hate began to spill into his voice. "And you, Arkata... You still do not know who this Turaga is?"

Buin prepared to fight. Lightning flowed over_ Caladbolg_. "I know enough. He is my guide, mentor, and the closest thing to a father I ever had." A sly smile spread across the Shadow Toa's face.

"Die, Arkata, my brother."  
"YOU ARE NO BROTHER OF MINE, WHOEVER YOU ARE!"

A blast of shadow fired at the lightning Toa. An equally powerful strike came from _Caladbolg's _the shadow split into many blasts and flew as a swarm around the bolt and to Ghost.

"YAAAAHHHH!" In seemingly slow motion, the shadow merged together and struck the crusader right in the heartlight. He flew off Buin's back, eye's closing.

"NOOOOO!" Buin dropped to the ground over his master's body.

"Buin... I... I am..." But those were the final words of Mountain Ghost. With that, he was dead.

"Old, worthless, fool. He-" but the shadow Toa began to stop in awe. Buin floated into the air, roaring, eyes glowing, and crackling. He cast _Caladbolg_ to the ground and armed his claws. Lightning began to form a total shell around him. Soon, he became a miniature star. Not one person made a move. With a ferocious battle cry, Buin released a huge display of power.

When he floated back to the ground, every Rahkshi within 50 feet of him had been utterly disintegrated. Only a scant 25 remained, all battered. There was no sign of the shadow Toa. In a charge of revenge, Buin ran and prepared to fight the last of the Rahkshi.

It was over in none less than three minutes. With a final rasp, the glow left Buin's eyes and crashed into the sand sound asleep. He was utterly exhausted. Now, it was time to rest, prepare, and mourn.

***

Not far from the sleeping Toa, sand began to shift and scatter. Rats trying to get a meal of fried Kraata scampered away. Out of the mound came a black hand and lance. The shadow Toa rose out of the sand and to full height.

_ Arkata has performed better than expected. But he has exhausted himself. That is his mistake. And in the rage, he never saw me slip away into the sand._ Despite his blindness, the Toa's mask power let him see well enough, sensing Buin's life. He sat next to the sleeping hero, and prepared to activate his vampiric power. A bloody crimson began to roll off his hand and over the Toa's breathing apparatus.

But the villain halted. _No. I'll leave you alive. You may yet have a role to play in this war, young Arkata._ With that, the lone survivor of Buin's vengeance walked away.

***

Buin awoke, but didn't see Rahkshi parts, a shore, water, or a hidden boat. He saw black mountains and a hut much like Mountain Ghost's. He had finally finished his bout of madness.

The rest of the memories came back, but not in a flashback form. He buried Mountain Ghost, considered the conversation of the shadow Toa and Ghost (as well as his unfinished last words), and boated his way thought mysterious tunnels to Rivstak-Nui and took his mentor's name.

Buin tried to hold his forehead in his hand and sigh, but he couldn't. When looking himself over, he was still a spirit. He needed to get back to his body. But when he floated back down to his hut, it was gone. Someone had taken the body of the new Mountain Ghost.

**Author's Note: Turns out, I was misspelling Nynrah the entire time! Thank you Inferna for pointing that out. Anyway, since there is a reference to food, I altered the universe a little bit so that they need food. I can tweak the universe a little bit. Thank you for reading! Please review.**


	3. Chapter 2: Feorner

**Chapter 2: Feorner**

_Don't panic_, Buin thought to himself. With his body missing and being trapped in spirit form, he could never have contact with the outside world again. Some people might be able to find him, but not many. Like this, Buin would just go insane faster.

_I might as well finish my meditation and figure out where my body could be,_ he thought. Floating down to his chair, he hovered over it as if he was actually sitting in it. _Well, who would want my body? Well, about everyone on the island. They want to know who I am. The evil ones want to hurt me._

That thought made Buin realize that he needed to make sure his body wasn't destroyed. Thoughts of what could happen if the Tien Kom got his body floated around. This included the Tren Krom death-priests chanting evilly while tossing his body into a bit of lava, chanting evilly while tossing his body of the peaks of Diya Fuell (their obsidian-mountain village), and some other ideas that he best not dwell on- all involving evil chanting.

Realizing what could happen if they found his body, Buin planned to go and search the most dangerous areas first; if they had his body, the worst results could happen. He floated out of his hut for the Diya Fuell mountains, home to the Tein Kom.

The Tein Kom, as Buin had soon learned after arriving on the island, were a dark group of matoran, and used to be a small matoran village that met Tren Krom. All of them were changed by his power, and were now in a half-mad state. They built temples to Tren Krom instead of Mata Nui, and believed that Mata Nui needed to be overthrown and Tren Krom in charge of the universe. After a group of matoran led by a mysterious Ko-matoran (who rode a spider-walker vehicle) captured the Tein Kom, they were shipped to Rivstak-Nui as a prison sentence. This happened about 50 years ago, so they were some of the island's first settlers. But now, the Kom are one of the main powers on the island, and are more prosperous than any village (due in part to robbery). Buin struck at them what he could, but he could make no big moves that could reach the ears of the Brotherhood. Yesterday had been a great risk. The Kom planned to eventually ship out of the island, and try to find new lands to conquer. But due to Buin's actions, they could never quite make it out of port.

Flying at 100 kio's per hour, Buin flew from the dead center of the island, his home, to the southern tip. Juts of mountains, blackened by ash, flashed by as the spirit of the Mountain Ghost swept through them. Along the way, Buin thought he saw some trees, a rare sight. He made a note to come and forage for food near there.

In about half an hour, Buin floated out of max speed. Looming above him was the mountains of Diya Fuell. They were the highest mountains on the island, second only the Rivstak Peak. These were the blackest mountains of them all, and were made out of solid obsidian, unlike the usual granite of the island. No one knew exactly how the mountains formed. Within 10 kios of the coast, the mountains stopped. But the Diya Fuell were exactly at the coast. The southern wall was totally smooth because of the constant crashing waves. Yet, they were there. A black point of evil where one shouldn't exist.

Ropes, pulleys, and platforms crisscrosses the peaks. Matoran of various strange colors were pulled across and around their village, bringing food and supplies. Buin wasn't sure, but he thought he caught sight of a live Rahi. Probably a sacrifice to Tren Krom.

Buin flew up the mountain to the peaks, giving glances to huts built into juts in the rock. At the top was the council chamber. The Mountain Ghost soon arrived, and scanned it over for signs of excitement signaling the finding of an enemy. So far, this seemed normal.

Buin floated through the walls of the council chamber. Inside, carvings of various scenes of terror wrapped around the circular hut, all involving the power of Tren Krom. In the center stood a horrific bust that could only be the face of Krom. Even to a hardened warrior like Buin, he felt panic creep into his body. But he knew, no work could capture the true terror of the immortal monster.

A jet-black Matoran with various tribal garments, all paying tribute to Tren Krom in some way, entered the hut. Buin had spied on him many times; he was the chieftain of the Tein Kom. His scribe walked by him, carving in his words.

"Newssss hasss come... frommmm new Fringaaaaaaa prisonersssss. Mountain Ghosssssst has made a movvvvvvvvve...." he hissed in his slow, snakelike voice, a result of contact with Tren Krom. "Heeeee killllled a Brotherhooooood operativvvvvve..."

That was all Buin needed to hear. They didn't have him. Accelerating to full speed, Buin rocketed out of the moutains and off to Krina Harbor.

Krina Harbor was pirate's haven. A few pirates banished to Rivstak Nui got together, pooled their skills, and now have an empire going. Their ships with black flags could often be seen on the horizon, with a huge KI on the hull of the ship in Matoran letters. But if they ever strayed too far from the shoreline, the ships could be seen crushed to splinters by long tentacles. Yet this never applied to arrival ships. No one, not even the Mountain Ghost himself, knew what it was. Most called it The Watcher in the Water. Many matoran suspected it was the power of the Mountain Ghost, but this was not true. The exception was the Tein Kom, who thought it was the work of Tren Krom.

Krina, the pirate empress who founded the bay, could often be seen leading her flagship the _Plunderer_, on raids to other villages. She was a ruthless and hard Ga-matoran, and expert with a pair of scimitars. Buin had actually fought her twice. Both times, she escaped. Despite her small size, she was fast, strong, and clever.

After the better part of an hour, Buin arrived at Krina Harbor. At the northeastern part of the oval island, the large, circular bay cut into the land for 10 kios, right up to the mountain foothills. It was in the foothills where Mistress Krina (as she insisted on being called) built her fortress, and commanded her criminal empire.

Passing through the granite hills, Fort Krina was nestled in a ring of the taller foothills, and heavily guarded. No one, except a select few of the Mistress's captains, knew the location. But of course, Buin discovered it within his first two weeks on the island.

After Buin had finished floating through the hills, the humble Fort Krina stood in front of him. It was only two rooms, plus one nearby tunnel. One was a living room for Mistress Krina. The other was a meeting room, where Krina made plans to raid other villages. On the wall was a map of the island. Metal pins, each painted different colors, represented her ships, targets, and threats. Buin passed through the wall, inside the meeting room.

"... and still no activity around the Onowi Mines from Mountain Ghost... actually, he hasn't done much lately." That was all Buin needed to hear. Out he went, mountains flying through him. The hours ticked away as Buin searched various buildings, homes, and huts. No sign of his body anywhere.

The last stop before Buin ended his search was the deep reaches of the Onowi Mines. Often the nastiest of the bunch were sent there, exiled by their own bandit tribes. In the better caves lived Onu-Matoran, mining raw and manufactured material as trade. Even with the overshadowing reputation of the deeper reaches (now mostly abandoned), the normal caves were pretty dangerous. Toxic gas leaks, and, more rarely, magma floods, forced the matoran to live in easily - moved homes and businesses.

Slowly floating through the caves of the furthest reaches, Buin scanned for his body. He found nothing. As his search was about to end, he found a hole in the ceiling near Fringa. This was where he made his lightning trick the previous night. After spying the Vortixx coming to the island 2 days before the attack, he tracked her, and thus Feorner. After finding to location of where his old master was to be attacked, he staked out the spot underground. When his spirit saw what was happening, he shot down a lightning bolt from the sky, blasted through the roof, and made it appear that he shot himself down from the sky. It was his favorite trick, like many others he used to increase his reputation of strange powers.

Buin realized a sad fact - this was the last tunnel. Nowhere was his body to be found. Floating down in despair, Buin considered for a moment that he may remain like this forever. This was quickly brushed aside. Buin yelled, at least in his own mind, because he couldn't talk.

"I REFUSE TO BACK DOWN! I WILL NOT STAY LIKE THIS!" But after he had spoken, he heard water dripping. There was no cave in the back mines that had water. There had to be another cave! The echo was too loud to be from a small crack - a full room!

Dashing through a wall where he heard it, he came through the other end in a second. In the room, a pond was at the far end, and a hole in the roof let in drips of water. It was remarkably big, about half the space of the Metru Nui coliseum's arena space, and a tall ceiling, a crack in it letting in light from the surface. Various technology was scattered around. Some was familiar to Buin. And in the center of the room was his body! - and Feorner.

A hundred different feelings flashed through Buin's mind at once. One was shock- another felt like a flashback coming on, but it was small- and anger. This was the same matoran who left him for dead, never turned back to help the youth who nearly died, never even tried to recover his body. The mad, rageful part of him sprang up like a starved Kane-Ra bull.

But that represented only half of Buin's thoughts. The other half was his calm, sensible, and sane side. It wanted to forgive him, and reconcile with the being who was like a father to him - more or less. He had always been a little harsh and sharp-tongued, but this didn't stop them from becoming a strong master and apprentice. Feorner taught him everything he knew.

These two sides warred inside Buin, for minutes, until the forgiving side of him won. Buin felt his anger and madness slipping. Away. He felt it - the first step to restoring himself. Taking a deep breath, Buin slipped himself inside of his body, bracing himself for whatever his old master's reaction could be.

***

Feorner desperately examined the vital sign trackers and medical supplies on the blue body of his former apprentice. Nothing. That's what everything said. He had already refused to admit it enough- his apprentice was dead.

Shaking hard, he was brought down to his knees. If matoran could cry, he could. Memories flashed through his mind at the speed of light. Most prominent was the lab accident. Gyra, only a teen in most ways of speaking, calling for his help... And almost died.

Almost. Feorner had been changing over the six months Buin spent with the first Mountain Ghost, thinking about Gyra's death. Now, he thought that he had finally had him... but he didn't.

It took him a moment, but he heard deep breathing. The same he had heard...

Feorner dived onto Gyra's body. "Gyra- no, Buin! You're alive!" Buin looked rather surprised on his blue face. "Of course. Don't you know, my mask? The Iden?"

Feorner stopped for a moment and looked at his face. It was a mask he didn't recognize. "Where did you get that?"

A few memories flashed through his eyes. "The first Mountain Ghost. He never did tell me his name..." Feorner thought for a moment. _Could it of been... No probably not... _There was silence for a few moments. Finally, the Fe-Matoran broke it.

"Gy- Buin... I'm sorry." Those three words had more meaning in them then a hundred. In that, both understood each other.

Buin climbed up, his body a little stiff and sore. "Feorner... I'm happy to see you again."

The feral side of Buin was washed away, if only for then. His transformation had begun.

***

"... and that's how I got here." After hours of talk, the brothers in craftsmanship had caught up with each other. "Any ideas on who Mountain Ghost I was?" asked Buin after he finished his story.

Feorner laid back on the smooth rock wall of the below-sea level cave. "Well... I've heard rumors. Before I was born (Feorner was 2,000 years old, relatively young by matoran standards), there was a High Foreman named... well, I've never heard. But, he tried to create life, just as Mountain Ghost I did. They are probably the same being. But the other members of the High Foremen Council were likely jealous, and banned his creating. He did it anyway, but the other 4 High Foremen came and destroyed his lab. From what I heard, his creation _could_still be alive, but it's unlikely. From the matoran I heard it from, the lab was blown to bits, and nothing could of survived. They banned all talk and records of the situation, and I was lucky to hear it told to me. I believe I am one of the few who really know."

Buin contemplated this in his mind. "But Mountain Ghost I was going to tell me something, but died before he could. There's a missing part to this story." The silence hung for a moment as both Nynrahns thought.

"Anyway, why are you here on Rivstak?" Buin asked.

Feorner began another monologue. "About six months ago, I was assigned a special project to build a mask that lets you see into the future. Something matoran, or any race, could use. Yep, I've used it. The Order gave us these special supplies-"

"Who's the Order?" Buin asked.

Feorner considered his answer carefully. "The Order of Mata Nui. A secret organization that combats the Brotherhood. They communicate in anonymous messages, but I still figured out who they were. Currently, only I know of their existence other than the Order itself- and you. But, if you are involved with the mask, I guess it's alright for me to tell you."

"But anyway, they gave me special material, and told me to use just that. I don't know why, but I did it anyway. It was some kind of shining powder. It was... there was... it just wasn't right." Buin could tell that the strange powder disturbed Feorner. "Under other circumstances, I would of run some scans, but with _that_- no. Definitely no."

"So I came here to deliver the mask, a Brotherhood agent caught me, and that's when you came in. How did you do that trick with beaming yourself down?"

Buin smiled something rare. "I was hiding in a cave this whole time, and monitoring you. I just blasted through the cave roof, and you saw the rest."

"Where do you live?" Feorner asked, going to more practical questions.

Buin turned around, about to motion to something with his arm, and realized a cave wall was in the way. "Well, anyway, I live on Rivstak Peak. It's the tallest mountain on the island, and dead center. You probably saw it coming in."

Buin opened his mouth to talk more, but a splash from the pond that led into the ocean diverted their attention. Something was moving. The lightning Toa sprang to his feet, drawing Caladbolg and readying a battle stance. More Brotherhood agents could be coming. Feorner, taking his partners unspoken advice, drew a weapon from his belt, a blaster with use unknown. The older matoran couldn't stop shaking. The blaster rattled in his hands. He was never much of a combatan.

From the water entrance plopped up a... Makuta Fish. Feorner was mad, but not at anybody, just the situation.

"A MAKUTA FISH! I NEARLY WET MYSELF OVER A MAKUTA FISH?! A STINKING MAKUTA FISH!?" Buin could tell that the pent-up tension was letting itself out here. Feorner was never good with pressure. He would of continued his tirade, and probably with language best left out, but he was cut short. The thing that _actually _made the splash.

A huge amphibious beast, about 2 bios long and 1.5 tall, sprang out of the water. It was bluish green, naked feelers around it's maw, and various scaly frills protruding at odd points. Webbing at its feet retracted, preparing for land.

A black-cloaked rider sat on top of the beast at the neck. A double-bladed sword was in its right hand, the beast's reins at the left. "The Shadowblade wants you dead - and your special mask." Without further warning, he flicked the reins, ordering it to attack. It a great push, the fell beast jumped from the ground and in to the air. Feorner shot wildly at it with his nerve blaster, trying to shut down the nerves in various parts of its underside. None found their mark.

It landed just about 2 bios in front of them. Then, the beast used its long tail to whip out and slash Buin across the chest. The strong limb sent Buin flying across the cave, and smashing into the rock wall.

Buin sat up, seeing stars. Looking down at his armor, a slice in the metal breastplate and a trickle of fluid gave him a fact about the beast - its fens were razor sharp!

Feorner was not faring well. He scrambled this way and that, desperately trying to harm the fell monster with anything he could get his hands on. It chased the matoran around, toying with him, until Buin came back. The beast felt sharp blades tearing into its hide around the hind legs. It roared, and a flick from its master's reins told it to turn and strike.

It spun to face the Toa, and the strange feelers from its maw latched onto Buin and charged with electric power. At first, it wondered why it's energy was doing nothing. Then- it feared. Its foe took control of the lightning, reversing it and pulsing it back into its head, using the tendrils as lines.

Pain shot through its whole body. Roaring, it flung the strange rider off. The black rider crashed into a pack of explosives Feorner had stacked up. The villain was blasted away upon impact.

The beast, now rendered permanently insane by the electrical shocks to the brain, charged out the cave making a roar, but it was the closest thing to a scream it could make. The fell beast plunged into the water, swimming away.

"WOOOOHOOOOO!" Feorner did a little dance now that the beast had retreated. It took him a moment to realize his partner's mood. "Buin? Why so glum, we won!"

Staring off into space, Buin replied. "Firstly - that's the second Brotherhood assassin less than 48 hours. They've got to have another one coming, probably a matter of hours away. Second - Feorner, we have **got** to work on your combat skills. And third... there was more than one creature that went insane by lightning..."

Author's Note: Thank you for reading this far! All the locations I went through should come up pretty soon... Fringa most of all. You'll just have to wait and see. The next chapter should be ready in about a week, maybe less. I think I'll give the next chapter name in advance as a clue to the plot. The next is called _Brother and Sister. _Please review! I want to be an author as a job, so I need plenty of feedback on my work! I just thanked somebody the other day for a negative review, so feel free to say your mind!


	4. Chapter 3: Brother and Sister

**Chapter 3: Brother and Sister**

"Are you sure about this?" Feorner asked. It had been 5 hours since the Brotherhood attack, and the sun was about to set. The edges of the mountains glowed crimson from the sun in the West.

"The Brotherhood is coming. Of that, I have no doubts." Now, they were directly above Feorner's cave. Various gadgets that the Nyrahn had moved from his home below the sea lay scattered like they were in their former home. Buin had a light pack of things strapped onto his back, with _Caladbolg_ moved down to his waist. His deep breathing rolled across the sands, maybe a little too loud for stealth.

The fortress of Fringa stood behind them, casting a long shadow into the ocean. This fort was built as a safe haven for all good matoran at Rivstak Nui. At the top, they flew the flag of Unity, Duty, and Destiny. Matoran of all kinds kept watch on the battlements, ever vigilant against the dark thieves on the island.

"Buin... we're talking about evacuating a fortress of five hundred paranoid matoran. They don't fully trust you. Nobody does on this big volcanic rock. How the Karzahni are you going to get them to follow you into the heart of a volcano cluster?"

"One of them was killed last night. And they all know the power and danger of the Brotherhood. That's why they're here. To train and to get experience. They are about to get more training and experience then they ever wanted. The Brotherhood doesn't have the mask yet after two assassins. More will come in greater numbers. Soon, they're going to send in full-blown armies. I don't want these matoran to die."

"Gy- sorry, Buin- you're noble. I'll give you that much."

Feorner turned around, getting ready to gather his supplies. But what he saw made him stop in the sand of the coast. Five frigates were sailing in to the island. Each bore the symbol of the Kraakahn. The emblem of the Brotherhood.

Feorner quietly cursed and ran to Buin. "BROTHERHOOD COMING!"

Buin spun, sending sand flying, and flopping his pack to the ground. He made a decision at the speed of his element. "Put those gadgets to use and harass them! I'll evacuate the matoran!"The Toa sprinted off to Fortress Fringa, leaving Feorner alone.

He piddled and panicked a moment, before pulling himself together and choosing a personal favorite of his gadgets. It was a special pike. You stick it into the ground, charges from geothermal energy, sticks out feet bars and handlebars, with a plasma blaster between them, all coming together to make a portable turret.

He stuck it into the sand. A emotionless voice came from it. "Charging. Please wait 15 minutes."

"I DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH TIME!" There was silence for a moment.

"Please wait 15 minutes."

Feorner began furiously slapping it, falling back into panic.

"Unexpected source of energy found. Please wait 30 seconds."

Feorner sighed. "Better."

He flipped out the feet and hand pedals and hopped on it. Feeling the pressure, the swivel mechanism opened up.

As Buin reached the walls of Fringa, a voice from the laser pike said "ready." He opened fire on the oncoming fleet, now no more than 1,000 bios away from the shore. The plasma shots ripped holes in the steel hulls. The angry clacking of Visorak on board could be heard. But Feorner was not alone.

"What the heck?" Feorner saw more plasma fire than he shot. Pulling out a pair of high-powered binoculars, he saw a blue-ish green-ish figure was making various acrobatic leaps and attacks against the the ships. And was that... a rowboat nearby? Small, just enough for 2 people and their supplies. Did this fleet have Toa after them?

Meanwhile, Buin deployed a miniature grappling hook out of his gauntlets with a protosteel wire when reaching the East Gate of Fringa. With a spring mechanism, he launched the hook to the top of the battlements. He scaled up the wall, quickly pulling himself up across the jagged stone.

A matoran guard had already seen the oncoming ships, and an evacuation was being thrown into order. Seeing the hook, he expected it to be an agent as the first assault from the ships. "Go to Karzahni, Brotherhood scum!" he raised his sword to cut the line, but a green female Toa stepped in the way. "STOP!" she yelled.

Buin flipped up to the top of the ramparts and saw the Toa of Plantlife. She was tall, slim, graceful, and beautiful. Buin felt something shift inside his mind looking at her. He couldn't quite tell what it was... this was in the deepest reaches of his mind, something none of his madness could penetrate. What was it?

Buin pushed it to the side of his mind; there was a battle he needed to focus on. That could be thought about later. His breathing intimidated most people, but not her. The Toa of Plantlife stuck a strange pose, her right leg pushed far out while taking some kind of bow. After a moment she said, "Oh, sorry. I forgot that not everyone has my customs."

She extended her hand. "This is proper, right?" she asked in a soft, melodious voice. He tentatively shook her hand. "I'm Vernia."

"I'm Buin. But you probably know me as Mountain Ghost." A look of surprise crossed Vernia's face. The matoran guard almost fainted.

"You're Mountain Ghost! That's amazing! I thought he was-"

"There's no time to talk. Get these Matoran evacuated into the mountains, close to Rivstak Peak. My home is there. I'll go and hold them off." Buin prepared to leap off the ramparts, a special stunt in mind.

"But before you go, know my brother, Rakonious (Rak-on-ee-us) is fighting them already. Find and help him. I couldn't convince him not to go on his own. And... be careful."

Buin dived headfirst off the walls of Fringa, lightning power crackling on his hands. Soon, they were glowing. Then, just about 5 bios from the ground, he unleashed the pent-up energy. The lightning ripped apart the front of the first ship, now just a couple of bios from shore. Liquid Protodermis poured in, and it quickly sank. Visorak, a couple of Rahkshi, a few Fohrok (and was the Matoran slang), and one Exo-Toa floundered in the waters. About half were crushed under the ship.

The blast rocketed Buin into the wall. He prepared his legs, and pushed off the wall. Rolling into the sand, he landed unharmed. The plasma Toa that was already at the sea saw what was going on. He had had to retreat from one ship, and made his way to his sister. But seeing the new Toa, he made a change of plans. Who must be Rakonious made a magnificent flip from the water to the half-submerged ship, and picked off the survivors of the frigate. Buin ran to meet the plasma Toa, and the newcomer leaped off the last sinking tip of the ship.

His mask had two black circles around the eyes. Odd, Buin had never seen the like of it before. He began to make another weird pose just like his sister, but caught himself quicker. "Rakonious. I guess you hate these guys too? Well, together we fight!" Without waiting for any response, he jumped back into the water.

Feorner had now ran over by Buin, waiting for further orders. Buin's pack was hanging lopsidedly on his back, a little too big. Pressure was getting to him, again. "That son of a Brakas Monkey! He's going to get himself killed!"

"Feorner, now isn't the time for foul language. Go to Fringa, they are already evacuating. I'll work on holding them off. There, you'll find a Toa of Plantlife, Vernia. Trust her." He had just told his closest friend to trust someone he just met for about a minute, yet he knew she was trustable. She was good; the Mountain Ghost had no doubts of that. He could just... tell. Buin followed Rakonious's suit, except with less flipping. Feorner grumbled for a moment about Rakonious and then ran to the city-fort.

Buin had negative thoughts for Rakonious too, but he didn't show them. This guy acted... well, more like a Toa of Air rather than plasma. Buin could tell his sister (but weren't they all brothers and sisters as Toa?) was far more sensible. One day, Rakonious would slip up on one of those stunts and kill himself.

But Rakonious _didn't_ slip up. He executed every leap perfectly, every spin accurately - what does he eat for breakfast? After Buin swam up to the nearest ship and was scaling aboard the metal wall, Rakonious was already in full swing. He would occasionally see flashes of light, a jumping Toa, and heard whooping; lots of it. A severed Visorak leg flew off the ship and almost hit Buin in the face. Disgusting.

Reaching the top, Buin vaulted over the side and on to the deck, breathing harder in the face of combat. Every Brotherhood rabble was already laying out on the floor but one foe . Rakonious was rolling on the floor while an Exo-Toa attempted to ram him with its arm. Everywhere Rakionious had been, there was a huge dent in the floor.

But the Toa of Plasma forgot one thing - the wall. He rolled right into a metal wall bordering the edge of the ship. For a moment, he was disoriented, and everything was spinning. Standing and clutching his head, the Exo-Toa slowly grabbed him and raised him up in stiff, robotic movements. A rocket was sitting right by the reckless Toa's head.

The dark-blue Toa stuggled, but to no avail. The stranglehold cut off his oxygen, and thus concentration. He couldn't focus a plasma beam to get him out of this one. But as he heard the rocket unlocking to fire...

The whole Toa crashed to the ground, and Rakonious could breathe again. Buin, of a lighter blue than Rakonious, stood behind it. His arm was inside a control panel on the robot's back. Energy was flowing up his arm and out of the machine, draining it. Buin tried to yank his arm out, but it was stuck in the Exo-Toa's wiring.

"A little help here?" Buin rasped, with a humiliated face. Rakonious smirked and made a plasma beam to cut it off. Buin removed his hand and brushed off the remaining metal parts.

Rakonious held out his hand. "I don't think we were quite formally introduced. My sister is Vernia, up at Fringa. She's helping them evacuate. Oh, and what's up with your voice?"

"A lab accident tore up my lungs. And I already met your sister. But aren't we all considered brothers and sisters in service and battle? You refer to each other as so a lot."

"Back at home, wherever home is, we've both lived together for as long as we can remember. We became Toa side by side, heroes among our small island."

Buin spared a glance at the oncoming fleet. There was still time to learn about the strange new Toa; this ship was much faster than the rest. "What happened to your home?"

"Brotherhood. This fleet came and decimated the village; only me and my sibling survived. I doubt it could ever be found again, because we found this really weird tunnel system that we escaped through. The island was pretty isolated, and did a bunch of stuff you would find weird. I've only began learning how to speak Metru about 5 years ago, a whole year after the attack."

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to ask your name! I kind of got carried away. I do that a lot."

"I can tell. I am Buin, apprentice of Feorner and the Mountain Ghost."

Rakonious's jaw dropped like his sister. "You know the Mountain Ghost! I've heard of him, but only rumors. What's he like?!"

"You're talking about the second Mountain Ghost. I meant the first. I am the second Mountain Ghost, and adopted my master's name after his death."

Rakonious still stood shocked. But after a few seconds, he shook it off. The plasma Toa turned his head to the other 3 remaining frigates. "We've wasted too much time," said Buin. "Those ships are getting too close."

***

"Toa. We need them on this island." A jet-black matoran of gravity approached Vernia, and a cape of the same color fluttered behind him. "I am Captain Tarvos, leader and founder of Fringa. So the Brotherhood is coming... my question is why," Tarvos stated in a rough voice. He was a no-nonsense commander; that was very obvious. Vernia had made her way to the center of the city for a meeting with him. Matoran ran about, collecting supplies for their exile from the fort and preparing ussal crab carts. Occasionally, Tarvos would bark an order to one of the military troops in the middle of the conversation with Vernia.

"I do not know. My brother and I have been tracking this fleet for some time. Even more ships lay in wait not far from Rivstak Nui. The Brotherhood is sending an army, not small at all, to Rivstak. Your guess is as good as mine why they've come here. But I have good news - Mountain Ghost has appeared on the city walls! I met him, and he is currently battling the Brotherhood fleet!"

Tarvos thought for a moment, fingering his axe hilt at his waist. "Are you sure Mountain Ghost can be trusted?"

"Why? Buin seemed trustworthy enough when I met him-"

Tarvos turned rigid, like a wolf discovering a scent of prey. "You just called the Mountain Ghost Buin. Looks like he's just an ordinary Toa. Turns out he's not so supernatural after all..." Vernia didn't like the sneer on his face. It almost seemed evil.

"Toa, did you know what Mountain Ghost did last night? He viciously murdered a Brotherhood assassin, in cold blood. He turned feral, utterly mad. Are you sure such a madman can be trusted? Really, you only met him for a minute." His cold stare chilled Vernia, but didn't change her mind. _I know that Buin is an honorable man. He can be trusted, this I am sure of._

"Commander Tarvos! This Fe-Matoran came to our gates, seeking the Toa Vernia on behalf of the Mountain Ghost!" Tarvos switched his gaze from the green Toa to the silver matoran being escorted in by a tough-looking Ta-Matoran. Feorner was left with the Captain and the Toa. He sank to his knees under Tarvos's stare.

"Who are you?" he immediately questioned.

"Umm... um um um..." he trembled under the Gra-Matoran's stare. "Fe-Feorner, sir."

"You claim affiliation with the Mountain Ghost. How do you know him?"

"Once, h-he was a Nynrah Ghost. He was my apprentice. I reunited with him j-just this afternoon." It was quite obvious that Tarvos was scaring Feorner to his very bones. He gave most new matoran his darkest stare, testing them for strength. Feorner obviously didn't have it. The Fringa leader had great disdain for the fearful Nynrahn. In is city, there was no room for who he deemed _weaklings_.

"You say that he was once a Nynrahn. Seeing he is a male Toa of Lightning, I find this _very _hard to believe."

"It happened in a lab exp-plosion. Lightning chemical got him in the back. That's why he h-has trouble breathing."

Tarvos thought for a moment. "Seems plausible. I'll check that with _Buin _as well, since I believe that is his name. For now... go stand watch at the East Gate with Vernia. Seeing you have your share of fancy machinery, you could be a formidable combatant _if you had the mind._ I will help my people evacuate." He spat out the last few words scornfully.

Tarvos dashed away, black cape fluttering and axe bouncing at his waist. Feorner began breathing easier. "Are you okay?" Vernia asked the Fe-Matoran.

"Yeah. I always have terrible nerves. But that Tarvos guy... he's so sinister." Feorner shivered.

"Well, I'm more scared to disobey his orders than to fight the Brotherhood. We might as well head to the East Gate." Walking like a Kau fish swimming upstream through the waves of evacuating matoran. After 10 minutes of walking and dodging, they arrived at the East Gate.

***

"Well, since everybody's dead now, I'll try to hijack this?"

"Hijack?" Buin asked, raising the mask above one eye higher than the other. "Is that a word from your original language?"

"Yeah. It means... take over a vehicle, about that. I can go down and hack the system."

Buin was familiar with 'hack', since it was originally Nynrahn slang. "Can you really do that? If you've only been in the regular world six years-"

"Don't worry! I've done this a million times!" he said calmly before he dashed down a stairwell to the ship's control room.

Buin decided to begin attack on one of the frigates. He popped out a targeting device on his right gauntlet and targeted the one on the far right of the three remaining. _Zoom, zoom... locked on. _A long tube of lightning came off his wrist, flying several hundred bios before nailing a Visorak in between the eyes. He _thought_ it was dead, but was pretty hard to tell from the distance.

Before he readied another shot, he realized that it wasn't a good idea. Even though he was too far away for them to shoot back, it took a big toll on his elemental energy. That would be something he would need to conserve, since many battles would be fought in the coming days.

Suddenly, several tiles on the ground slid away to reveal a small control panel. A voice blasted over hidden speakers, a little too loud. "This is your _awesome_ captain speaking. I have all the Rhotuka launchers ready to fire! Say thank you." At that, about a dozen Rhotuka launchers emerged from secret compartments in the ship.

Buin just rolled his eyes and examined the semi-circle control panel around him, having no patience for childish games. The panel was all a touch screen, with silhouettes of the three Brotherhood ships on it. "Select your target," the panel said in a monotone. Buin picked the far-right ship, the one he had shot at earlier. "Which launcher will fire?" Buin tapped a spot that said _Select All._ With that, everything disappeared to be replaced with one large, red block. It said_ Fire._

Buin ordered the launchers to fire. He felt the ship being pushed by the force of the launch, holding the panel for balance. A dozen disks of energy flew at two hundred kios an hour. All twelve streaks in the sky curved in to a single target - the center of the heavily-armed battleship. At the same moment, they all impacted. In huge flash, the disks ripped through the deck of the cruiser. Scattered Rahkshi parts lay about, along with screeching Kraata and half-dead Visorak.

"Wow."

***

Feorner passed Vernia a pair of high-powered binoculars. "Thanks," she said, looking it over. "You made it well." Feorner didn't respond, just drawing another set. She knew what was wrong; she had a knack for solving those kind of problems.

"Don't let that Tarvos guy think you're weak. Look what you can do with technology! We all have our weaknesses." Feorner just stared out his binoculars. Vernia followed suit. Sometimes, these problems would be far easier to solve.

She saw Buin and her brother use the Rhotuka launchers to tear up a ship. They were doing amazing for being so outnumbered, but both were excellent warriors. She could pull up dozens of instances where her brother had over-the-top stunts.

But as her eyes began to examine the three remaining vessels, two glowing circles appeared on the largest one, at the center. She heard Feorner gasp; he had seen it as well. "Vernia, get away! Run away!" Just as he said that, two shining rockets were launched from the glowing sockets, flying high into the air.

"Oh, Mata Nui..."


	5. Chapter 4: The Battle of Fringa

**Chapter 4: The Battle of Fringa**

Feorner and Vernia ran as fast as they could from the oncoming rockets. Looking back, Feorner saw them reach their peak high in the sky. The pair came plummeting down to the East Gate, exactly where the two were keeping watch.

Vernia raised her hand, and a very long vine sprung from the ground. She quickly fastened it into the wall. "Get on my back!" Feorner jumped on as the Toa of plantlife slid down on the vine from Fringa's battlements, trying her best to calmly plan a way to find a way back to her brother and Buin. But the rockets came too soon. In a great blast, they impacted into the very spot where the lookouts had been standing. Huge shockwaves decimated the wall.

The vine, now with no place to stay attached, let them freefall among the flaming wreckage of Fringa's East Gate. All around them, there was fire. Endless fire, it seemed...

The Battle of Fringa had begun.

***

"Buin, what was that?!" Rakonious's voice boomed over the intercom, very worried. Buin stared in horror at the wreckage of the East Gate. The other two thirds of Fringa was still standing, but wouldn't be for long if there were more rockets.

"The Brotherhood has some kind of superweapon that blew up the East Gate! Rakonious, we have to get back there and protect the matoran!" In a few moments, the ship heaved and turned counterclockwise, facing Fringa."

"I've got it on autopilot. I'm coming up. So that's where my sword went..." It sounded like he forgot to turn off the intercom for the last sentence. In a minute, Rakonious came up the stairs with a new longsword strapped to his back.

"I found my sword!" he said, quite happy. "The Brotherhood stole it a few days ago. It's Nynrahn made," he added proudly. The plasma Toa unstrapped and held it out.

Buin carefully looked over it. "Wait... it looks familiar. Is it named _Astra_?"Buin asked. Rakonious looked bewildered.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I made it. It is a very fine sword; I spent several days on it."

Rakonious looked amazed. "How many more surprises do you have up your gauntlet?"

"Quite a lot, actually." There was no sarcasm in the lightning Toa's voice. Rakonious just gave him an _oookayyyy_ look and went back to business. But truly, there were many surprises left.

The plasma Toa turned around at Fringa's wreckage. "Dang," he near-whispered at the flames. "I just hope sis is all right." _Dang _was most likely another foreign word. Buin had similar thoughts for both people, Feorner and Vernia. "That is serious. I never knew that _Trikia_ had that kind of weapon," Rakonious said.

Buin decided to get down to business. "I assume _Trikia _is the flagship. You see to know a lot about this fleet. We will need all the knowledge we can get for this battle. To start, what are their numbers?" he rasped, voice getting worse with the imminent battle.

Rakonious was thrown off by the rasp for a moment, so his answer was delayed. "Roughly... 1,000 in what's left. The three remaining frigates are all heavy assault, and aren't too fast. That one that fired the rockets - that's _Trikia._ There are about a dozen more ships in hiding, and have about 2,000 more troops waiting for attack. And their commander... he's just..." Rakonious shivered.

"I met him just once. His mask is something I've never seen before. He's totally black, a Shadow Toa of some sort. Darkness just rolls off him. He has a glaive for a weapon, and strangest of all... always wears a red cloth around his eyes. I think he's blind, but his mask does something for him..."

Mountain Ghost's murderer had returned! Madness threatened to engulf Buin. His vision began to blur, and everything looking orange. The rasp became worse than ever. A terrible desire for revenge burned within him. Rakonious's words sounded slurred to him. "Buin? Are you okay? Come back! Snap out of it!" In a rush, everything turned back to normal. But still, the thirst for revenge stayed.

"That monster... how could have survived?... he murdered my mentor..."

"You know The Shadowblade?" said Rakonious, who just picked up one of those surprises Buin had warned him about.

"About six months ago, he murdered my mentor, Mountain Ghost I. They seemed to know each other." But before Buin could go on, his vision flashed orange again. He dropped to his knees from the sudden slip in sanity.

"There is something very important I must tell you." He stopped for a moment to let himself wheeze. "I am insane. If my eyes turn orange, _get away from me. _Then, I cannot control myself. I will become wild, feral. Once, I killed one hundred Rahkshi in such a wrath. I feel it coming on... I could kill you."

Rakonious could hear the stress in Buin's voice behind the rasp. "Don't worry, buddy. Vernia can handle this. Trust me, she can grow about any healing herb imaginable in a few seconds." He took a glance to the city; it wasn't too far away now.

"This can't be cured with healing herbs. It's too deep."

The plasma Toa was shocked at the seriousness in his voice. He wanted to be optimistic, and tried to distract him. "Hey... what's that buzzing?" Rakonious turned around and found the answer to his own question. "They're sending in Rahkshi!"

Buin woozily rose. "We better hold them off from here. That will divert some of them from Fringa. I'll man the Rhotukas." Buin carefully walked over and ran his hand over the control panel. There were at least 50 Rahkshi flying in. He targeted twelve, the maximum, and hit the fire command.

The Rahkshi immediately took evasive maneuvers. Only about half hit. One made a series of hisses and hand motions. That one, most likely a squad leader, flew down to the ship Buin and Rakonious had captured. About half of the Rahkshi followed, the rest keeping the course for Fringa.

Rakonious drew _Astra_, and Buin slung _Caladbolg_ off his back. "Buin, you should get below deck. You can't fight like this-"

"I think I can. In this state, fighting is what I do best." A blue-green glow flowed off the Nynrahn sword. Buin faintly remembered installing a feature allowing plasma elemental energy to run up a series of tubes, allowing the sword to cut through most anything. Buin did something similar with his custom-made polearm and charged it with lightning.

The cloud of two dozen Rahkshi came within striking distance. Lasers, lightning, sonic blasts, cyclones, and other various combat powers tore through the deck of the ship. With a glowing mask, Rakonious dodged most of them, but took a clip in the shoulder from a spark of chain lightning.

Buin used pointed tips from the glaive blades as focus points for lightning. He knocked several Rahkshi into the water who insisted on staying long range and out of the range of melee weapons. But the beast within him thirsted for battle, and he had trouble keeping his aim steady.

Rakonious wasn't much for sniping, but made elaborate wall jumps and flips into the swarm of Rahkshi. He leapt onto the back of a Rahkshi of Hunger and quickly decapitated it. The Kraata inside it screeched loudly as it sunk into the waves of the sea.

A half-dozen Rahkshi cornered Buin against the railing. But they all seemed hesitant to make any too aggressive strikes. It almost seemed as if they kept eye contact with him, waiting for something.

Past the haze of insanity, Buin realized why. "I think you all have heard of me. I've fought your army before. Only your commander survived, didn't he?" All the Rahkshi hissed loudly and flinched. He realized to them he was a symbol of fear and death. That could be a more valuable weapon in the war to come than any long-range rockets, he realized.

He focused his power in his hands and face. Sparks and streaks of electricity jumped from his body. The Rahkshi knew what could be coming. They ran, bought couldn't escape the lightning. He sprinted forward and grabbed a Rahkshi's throat. He sent lightning down it's spine, paralyzing the machinery and most likely the Kraata.

In full swing, the five remaining Rahkshi fell in nets of electricity running from his hands. The madness beat like a drum within him. The thrill of combat awakened the feral spirit within. He felt it harder and harder to contain himself as the world was turned a heavier tint of orange. Adrenaline fueled him as he felled many more Rahkshi, all running in fear before being torn by the blades of _Caladbolg._

Rakonious elaborately kept in the air by piggybacking each Rahkshi in turn, and then slicing through it or riding it into its ally. In only a few minutes, they were all gone.

The plasma Toa landed with a dull thud on the heavily scarred metallic surface. "Buin! You were amazing! You had to of taken out fifteen - Buin?"

The lightning Toa kneeled by the bodies of three slain Rahkshi. His chest heaved as he rasped like he was having a seizure. His head slowly turned to Rakonious. Orange marking their edges was growing, threatening to engulf the whole eyes. "Get away. It's becoming too strong..."

"I'm getting you to Fringa. You can't go on like this."

"No... I can't hold it back..." Rakonious ignored him and went to set a course for Fringa

***

"Feorner!" Vernia had gotten uncannily lucky. She was only shaken by the impact, but nothing more. Smoke piled high, but there was no roof to hold it in. She was safe for now. But there wasn't any sign of Feorner.

She heard grunting a bio away from her. Feorner crawled out of a stack of what was once wooden support beams. "I got lucky. This didn't catch fire. It looks like it was the only thing that didn't." All of the easternmost third of Fringa was flaming. The rest of the city was most likely fine. But it couldn't be seen.

"We need to head back to the rest of the matoran. No doubt, this will be crawling with Visorak in a few minutes," Feorner decided, taking initiative. Feorner started off through what looked like a clear path through the flames. Vernia followed, keeping a wary eye out for any kind of danger in the ruined fort.

The pathway led them back to a col-de-sack, ending in a burning wall. "Dead end. Let's find another way." Vernia turned around to go back on the path, Feorner right behind.

On the walk back, the female had a question. "You don't really seem nervous," Vernia stated. "No offense, but you get real jittery when you know a battle's coming."

Feorner shrugged. "Fire is more predictable than a Visorak. The smoke rises, get low. Stay away from the flames; stay away from burnable objects. It doesn't actively hunt you down. Plus, I've been around a forge for most of my life, so you get used to it."

The duo had seen no new routes out of the fire, and came back to the place that was once the East Gate. "The city has really changed in the wreckage. I don't think anything is the same here," Vernia commented. They looked around for other ways out of the flames, but there were none.

"It looks like there isn't a way out. We're just going to have to let the flames burn themselves down or get rescued," Vernia stated. Feorner sat down and took out a small capsule.

"I think I might be able to get us out of here. If I just have - Ugh!" Feorner clenched his fists, getting out his frustration and holding back certain words. "I thought I could get a special explosive working. It would use up all the oxygen in the area and stop the fire. But I left the right chemical in the cave." He had already filled his companion in on what had already passed.

The matoran's eyes turned to the sky. "Rockets that strong need a long period of recharge. It will be a good 15 minutes before they can strike again, but that would be death to us."  
He felt his nerves getting higher again.

"Vernia?" he asked, with a bit of a shake. The Toa was sitting in meditation; a sapling growing in front of her. She soon opened her eyes, a short tree in front of her.

"There. That should help make a shelter from any more rockets." Using her elemental power again, she ripped the tree from the ground and tossed it into the flames . It revealed a huge root system underneath it, extending at least 3 bios at the most. "The ground will be very easy to dig now that the roots have run through it. The cave should give us some shelter."

Feorner immediately saw a problem. "Or, it could cave in on us."

"We have to try." Vernia bent down and began digging regardless. Feorner decided to as well, even if he doubted the safety. In about 10 minutes, it was finished.

"This leaves us... about 5 more minutes until the rockets are ready again," the Nynrahn counted. The two silently climbed down the shaft, which turned off into a pocket cave. They fit in, if rather cramped.

They sat for "Feorner... don't - move - a - muscle." The matoran heard it too. Skittering, clacking, and hissing. Visorak. Only Vohtarak could of made it through that fire. If they made one of their charges down the tunnel... not good.

The hissing became more frequent. It seemed like talking. The clacking came down the hole. They were coming. Vernia put her hand on her whip, ready for battle.

"_Shreeeee_!" the monster shrieked. A single Vohtarak's head was visible, upside-down from clinging to the hole. It saw the hiding heroes piled together in the back.

Feorner nearly screamed at the horrid spider skull staring at him, but his voice stopped. Before he knew it, it was motionless. It took him a moment, but he realized he had his nerve gun in his hand. _I actually got one,_ he thought.

More screeching could be heard, sounding distressed. "FOR FRINGA!" The gruff voice of Captain Tarvos rose above the chaos of the battle. Vernia climbed the shaft as fast as she could, Feorner shaking behind.

The best of Fringa's warriors were in a struggle with the spider scum. Tarvos's axe was half a bio taller than him, yet he wielded it like a feather. He leapt into the air and brought the axe crashing down on a Visorak twice his size. He paused a moment to remove his weapon from the dead insect's rough shell before moving on.

He spared a glance at his scouts. "I thought you were dead. You've got more in your than I thought." Tarvos snapped back to battle in an instant. One of the Vohtarak was making its signature charge. The matoran dropped to the ground and let his axe cut through the exposed underbelly as it ran. He mentally added one to his kills record, and moved on.

Vernia wrestled with two foes at once, whipping other Visorak away that tried to pile on her on top of the other two. Spikes she added to the whip made rough scratches in the red shells, but had little offensive power. When one of the pair made the charge, she grew up a tree in an instant, catapulting it away to some distant part of the wreckage. She heard two crashes, the latter probably being something still standing that broke and crushed the spider.

Hissing, the other turned away in search of easier prey. All the Fringans were locked in their respective battles, Tarvos dueling the Kahgarak squad leader. It spied a small sliver matoran's head poking out of a small hole. It made a series of mental hisses, meaning _perfect _in its language.

It skittered over, sidescuttling around a Fringan axeman rolling with one of the smaller Vohtorak. Locked in their various battles, no one took notice; the Toa had found another fight.

"AAAHHHI!!!" The prey screamed as the hunter moved in.

Feorner half fell down the shaft as the monster closed in. He hit the paralyzed Visorak at the bottom with his foot in haste. Savoring the moment of kill, the moving one crawled in to the shaking Nynrahn. But he felt something brush against his foot...

_Oh Mata Nui, did I just hit a nerve point on that? _The paralyzing effects of Feorner's blaster could be undone by hitting one of several key nerve points. His foot had just hit a nerve point.

He screamed again as hungry jaws snapped at his head and feet. He barely was able two slip past one pair, yet alone two!

He had gone just a few seconds before he noticed a black-caped figure standing above him, still. "TARVOS! HELP!" The Foreman dodged another set of lunges. But through the red shell, he saw the Captain making no movement. Only watching.

His mind was too jumbled to form words. Only thoughts of rage blended with panic. He was determined to live, and determined to prove that he could live. Instincts beginning to take over, he grabbed a shock rod from his belt. The short, fourth-bio rod hummed with power as he shoved it down the maw of the bottom Visorak. It shrieked, ringing throughout the narrow tunnel, before laying still.

The other one began to make a similar noise as it was yanked from the ground. A furious Vernia had her whip wrapped around it's let. The noise began to be gargled as it seemed to be choking on something. Seeing a green hand hovering around it's throat, the emerging Feorner suspected something was growing in its windpipe.

Tarvos stared down Feorner like when they first met. Feorner stared back. Vernia stared hardest of all.

"TARVOS, WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HIM?!" she sounded utterly furious.

The matoran of gravity took now offense at the yell. He stared on coldly. "He is _weak_. We cannot afford to have any _weak_ on this island. If he died, that is one less mouth to feed and one less _weak _to look after. Even thought he survived, you are still _weak_." He added the last part facing Feorner. Every time he said the word weak, he spat it out like poison.

"HE IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS YOU! JUST BECAUSE HE ISN'T A WARRIOR DOESN'T MEAN HE'S USELESS!" Vernia was in rage stronger than the flames around them.

"Umm, Captain? There are two dozen Rahkshi searching near us. Shall we go back through our secret tunnel?" A Fringan soldier stood at Tarvos's side.

"Yes, Levail. We shall speak of this later," he finished to Vernia, meeting her glare.

***

It began pulsing again. The orange circle around his vision was beginning to die, but it just turned another shade brighter.

"Hold on, buddy. Just a few minutes." Rakonious carefully watched Buin's body, letting the autopilot run the ship. Now, the madness was ravaging him like a disease. Rarely had it acted like this before. The sane part of Buin's mind realized it was getting stronger.

Rakonious landed to see his sister and several Fringan soldiers attacking the Rahkshi they had spotted earlier. "Don't cut loose on me. I'll be back," he whispered as he drew _Astra_. He charged into the fight, sword burning. One Rahkshi of Rahi control was swarming his sister with a colony of hoto bugs. A quick stab through the back killed the Kraata inside.

"You just can't hold you own without me, sis," Rakonious chided.

"Oh, come on. I was just about to snare that one!" The return of her brother lifted Vernia's spirits. In a few minutes, _Astra _had won the battle.

All the warriors took a moment to pause and catch their breath, taking advantage from escaping Fringa's smoke and breathing the ocean air.

A slow clapping broke the silence, echoing over the sand and sea. "Well done. I thought my rockets would leave no survivors, but I hoped they wouldn't. I love a good brawl." A black Toa wearing a red cloth around his eyes stood on the coast, shadows rolling off him.

A roar from the captured frigate caught his attention. "I see Mountain Ghost is ready to fight." He readied his glaive. Another rocket tore into Fringa, renewing the fire.

The wrath of the Shadowblade had begun.


End file.
